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Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Haaland pushes conservation, slams Trump at Santa Fe water summit
The Rio Grande has changed, said former secretary of the interior and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland. "It doesn't run as high," Haaland said at the 2025 Next Generation Water Summit, hosted at the state Capitol. "The water runs slower and in late August, it's a trickle of the river that it once was." Her keynote speech kicked off the two-day conference, which addresses topics like water conservation in homebuilding, water reuse and smart meters. It's the eighth year the summit has been held. House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, introduced Haaland, lauding the former Cabinet secretary's work to deliver water resources to tribal communities. "In New Mexico, we do not have the luxury nor the patience to wait for others to decide our future, and we must have the courage to demand that sustainability is a priority and the commitment to see our ideas turn into action," Szczepanski said. "And there is no one who better exemplifies the mix of courage and commitment that this moment requires." Haaland, who was a congresswoman before serving in former president Joe Biden's cabinet, made the address after hosting a news conference and roundtable on veterans affairs in Santa Fe on Wednesday — signs that her campaign is now in full force. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham cannot run again due to term limits. In the June 2026 primary, Haaland will face Democratic candidate Sam Bregman, the district attorney for Bernalillo County and Ken Miyagishima, longtime mayor of Las Cruces. Lt. Gov. Howie Morales has said he is considering a run but hasn't declared yet. A few Republicans have also expressed interest in running, including Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull. So far Haaland has by far raised the most money out of all the candidates — $3.7 million as of mid-May, according to her campaign. At the end of this month Haaland's successor, current Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will visit Santa Fe to speak at the Western Governors' Association Annual Policy Summit. Haaland addressed the association in 2023. In her Thursday speech, Haaland revisited highlights of her time in the Biden administration, including bringing tribes to the table in Colorado River negotiations and $60 million in drought funding for the Lower Rio Grande Basin provided under the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate change and health care bill Biden signed into law in 2022. 060525 jw haaland water Former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland gives the opening address at the Next Generation Water Summit on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at the Roundhouse, touting conservation efforts during her tenure. Haaland also listed her priorities for the state's water plan, including expanded groundwater management for "long-overdrawn basins," incentives for farmers to implement water-saving measures, stricter water metering and monitoring requirements, and water protections from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Haaland urged water conservation as she spoke to the developers, local officials and water professionals gathered for the summit — no more "business as usual," she said. "These ideas aren't going to fix everything immediately, nor do they encompass the entirety of our water future — and it couldn't be more urgent," Haaland said. "We all know that when precipitation is scarce and temperatures are rising, wildfires become more devastating." One of three Democrats who have declared their intent to run for governor, Haaland couldn't resist a jab at Republican president Donald Trump. "The Trump administration is putting our progress at risk — cuts to conservation, cuts to staff, cuts to grants, cuts to tribal communities, cuts, cuts, cuts. That's all they do," Haaland said. "When drought conditions strike, we need these systems to be resilient enough for us to rely on our future."
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers tout progress on crime at halfway mark but want to do more
As she raced to her office on the fourth floor of the state Capitol early Thursday, Linda Trujillo barely had time to talk. Trujillo, a Santa Fe Democrat, granted a reporter an interview, but it was in motion and over in 40 seconds. "They're going fast and furious," she said when asked about the first 30 days of the 60-day session. Trujillo's assessment sums up the first half of this year's session, which officially reached its midway point Thursday. Even longtime lawmakers say the session is unlike any other New Mexico has experienced, at least in recent memory. "Every session is different, but it feels like this year we're doing two 30-day sessions back-to-back," Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said Friday. "Our decision to prioritize the behavioral health [bills] and a crime package in the first 30 days has had everybody just all hands on deck to get that across the line," he said. Amid a self-imposed deadline to get the two packages to the governor by the session's midway point, lawmakers on Friday debated — and passed — bills to crack down on crime and improve the state's behavioral health system. "I feel like we have met our targets," Wirth said ahead of Friday's Senate floor session. "It'll be a big accomplishment." House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, agreed, saying the Legislature has made "tremendous progress" in the first half of the session. "We promised the people after the special session [in July] that we would deliver on competency and public safety and behavioral health in the first 30 days, and we are about to fulfill that promise," he said Friday evening. "The behavioral health bills are well underway. The governor will be able to sign them. Promises made, promises kept." Crime, behavioral health bills headed to governor A special session called by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last summer ended after lawmakers adjourned in five hours without giving any of her proposals a hearing, saying they weren't ready for consideration. While the governor harshly criticized lawmakers, Wirth said they were able to work on proposals to reform the state's criminal competency laws and building a behavioral health framework in the interim. "By prioritizing those issues, I'm very encouraged that we're going to deliver a good product to the citizens of our state," he said. This legislative session brought a new strategy, said House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena. "The Legislature front-loaded a lot of bills, which hasn't been done in the past … so we're navigating that, and I think we're navigating it pretty well," Armstrong said in an interview. This year, lawmakers came to the Roundhouse ready with a trio of behavioral health proposals and a raft of bills that would eventually become House Bill 8, a public safety package dealing with criminal competency reforms, drunken driving, fentanyl trafficking and more. Legislative leadership promised to expedite the behavioral health and public safety packages, with the goal of having them ready for the governor's signature at the midway point. On Saturday, the House approved some minor Senate amendments to House Bill 8, sending it to the governor, and two of the three behavioral health bills have passed both chambers. GOP wants more on crime Many of those proposals secured bipartisan support, with each of the three bills in this year's behavioral health package — Senate Bills 1, 2 and 3 — sponsored by a combination of Democratic and Republican leaders. But the public safety package will be a sticking point for Republicans, with even some who voted for it arguing it doesn't go far enough to curb crime in the state. Armstrong noted Republicans offered changes to the proposed public safety package on the House floor but they weren't incorporated into the bill. "I saw a quote today that said, you know, the crime package that passed [the House] is an appetizer," Armstrong said. "Well, we want the full meal deal. New Mexico wants the full meal deal." Martínez said lawmakers will continue to make public safety a priority over the next 30 days and that it has been a priority of both chambers over the last several years, though Republicans may disagree with his assessment. "This package of bills that are about to go up to the governor are the result of months of hard work," he said. "It is not the end-all, be-all. Just like the last four sessions, they have not been the end-all, be-all. And I suspect that there's a lot more work that will be happening over the next 30 days and also over the next few legislative sessions. This is similar to our work around early childhood. It's similar to our work around infrastructure. It's work in progress." Changes to New Mexico's juvenile delinquency statutes are of particular concern to House Republicans in the coming days, with two House Republican-backed delinquency bills currently awaiting committee hearings. "We would really like to see that get across the finish line. ... It's about getting these kids help and sending them in the right direction," Armstrong said. Another thing that hasn't yet made much headway this session: an overhaul of New Mexico's medical malpractice system, which GOP leaders identified as a priority this legislative session. In addition to sponsoring other pieces of legislation pertaining to medical malpractice, Armstrong signed on to co-sponsor Senate Bill 176, a proposal backed by the think tank Think New Mexico to make significant changes to the medical malpractice process. Though the bill now has 10 Democratic and 10 Republican sponsors, many of them arguing the proposal would make it easier for doctors to practice in New Mexico, it had yet to get a hearing as of Saturday. "I'm not saying that everyone's perfect, and I'm not saying that they're not making mistakes out there — but we are losing our doctors," Armstrong said. 'We've been working' As she reflected on the first 30 days of the session, Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, said she, like many of her colleagues, is already feeling "quite exhausted." And that's a good thing, she said; it's a sign of productivity. "We really have been in the deliberative process of seeing what's best for our state moving forward," Romero said. "When you see the bags under our eyes, that means we've been working," she added. Wirth said "there's no question" lawmakers have had "the pedal to the metal" in the first half of the session, noting it was the last 60-day session for Lujan Grisham, who is more than halfway through her second term. "I want to make sure we make the most of this and really deliver for New Mexicans, so yeah, I'm going to push," he said, adding the Legislature will need to take a little break after this weekend. "We will need to back off a little bit here so folks get some sleep because I think the second 30 days is going to be another real push to the end," he said.
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democratic leaders say CYFD reform, crime to be priorities in second half of session
Democratic legislative leaders Saturday celebrated the progress they said they've made tackling New Mexico's struggles with crime and behavioral health but promised not to rest on their laurels during the second half of this year's legislative session. "We put in the hard work, and today we're seeing the fruits of that labor," Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, said at a news conference on the House floor. On Saturday, the House and Senate voted to concur with each other's amendments to House Bill 8 and Senate Bill 3 respectively, sending both to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's desk. The former combines six originally separate anti-crime measures, including a major overhaul of criminal competency laws and measures to crack down on shooting threats, fentanyl trafficking, vehicle theft and drunken driving and ban possession of devices to convert semiautomatic firearms into fully automatic ones. "It reflects the fact that we have listened to the community and made the community's priorities our priorities," said House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe. Senate Bill 3 would restructure the state's behavioral health system, creating a "Behavioral Health Executive Committee to oversee the development of regional behavioral health resources and identify service gaps, tailoring solutions to meet local needs," according to a Saturday news release from Senate Democrats. A related bill to create a trust fund to help pay for behavioral health programs passed the House on Friday after having passed the Senate a week before. House and Senate leaders praised the process that went into crafting the bills passing now, after a one-day special session in July ended with lawmakers not taking up any of Lujan Grisham's crime proposals. Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, noted most Republicans in that chamber voted for House Bill 8. "That reflects what meaningful debate and deliberation yields when we take that time and effort," he said. With a little less than a month left in this year's 60-day session, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said the state Children, Youth and Families Department will be a major focus of the next few weeks. Several CYFD-related bills are working their way through the process, including ones to vest oversight of the department in an independent commission, improve the agency's data collection, increase oversight and strengthen plans of care for newborns exposed to drugs. "You cannot talk about public safety without talking about reforming CYFD," said House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque. He connected the issue to juvenile justice, noting many horrific crimes are committed by children who have been failed by their parents and the state. Lujan Grisham and Republicans have criticized the crime package for not going far enough and have said lawmakers should do more before the session is over. Martínez said lawmakers plan to keep working on the issue, but he wouldn't say which bills in particular he wants to see passed, saying they should go through the committee process. "We're not in the business of passing legislation just to score points or just to get on the 5 p.m. newscast," he said. Republicans have been calling on the state to sentence some serious youthful offenders more harshly and introduced amendments to House Bill 8 in both the House and the Senate to accomplish that which were voted down. Martínez indicated the issue would continue to be discussed. "That bill is in committee and I think it'll get its fair hearing," he said.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Mexico Senate to judge parole reforms
Concertina wire tops a fence at a detention facility. (Getty Images) A proposal to modernize New Mexico's parole board and change the way its members can consider an incarcerated person's request for parole is headed to the state Senate. Sens. Leo Jaramillo (D-Española) and Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) and Rep. Nicole Chavez (R-Albuquerque) are sponsoring Senate Bill 17, which introduces evidence-based practices when the board is considering whether to release someone who is serving a life sentence in prison. SB 17 also clarifies crime victims' role in its deliberations and creates a process for removing members to protect their political independence. The Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee on Feb. 6 voted 8-1 to pass the bill, and the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 12 voted unanimously to send it to the full Senate. The bill has support from the Parole Board itself, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and the Law Offices of the Public Defender. The legislation also changes the guidance to parole board members about how they should consider incarcerated people's requests for parole. Rather than asking parole board members to focus on the incarcerated person's conduct that led to their conviction, the bill would require them to instead focus on how they have acted since they went behind the New Mexico Corrections Department's walls. In other words, the bill would guide parole board members to evaluate the incarcerated person's conduct after a judge sentences them to figure out if they have shown they are ready to be released back into their community. It would also require the board to hear from victims' families or representatives in the case before making a decision. Over the past year, the board has gone through 'numerous' changes in membership, Director Roberta Cohen told lawmakers on Feb. 6. The bill would prohibit the governor from removing a member unilaterally, but allow the governor or the board to remove members for incompetence, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. This story originally misidentified Nicole Chavez's position. Source regrets the error. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
